


Volleyball Brings Us Together Again

by Arsmbbxiuho



Category: GOT7
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:48:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26436697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arsmbbxiuho/pseuds/Arsmbbxiuho
Summary: Youngjae is the team captain of the volleyball team at Mokpo high school. His rival at Konkuk high school is Jaebeom, who’s the captain of the volleyball team there. What happens when Youngjae misses his bus to the championships and must ride with Konkuk’s team? Will Jaebeom and Youngjae become friends again or something more?
Relationships: Choi Youngjae/Im Jaebum | JB
Comments: 6
Kudos: 50





	1. Only a Volleyball Match

It’s playoff day for Mokpo high school’s men’s volleyball team. They just have to defeat Jinhae high school to make it to the championships against Konkuk high school. This meant everything to Youngjae. He wanted to prove that he was a great player, a great captain, and could beat Jaebeom at anything. Jaebeom was the captain of Konkuk’s team, so Youngjae really wanted to win today.

“Ya Youngjae! Wake up! Mark and Jackson are here. Your big game is today. You need to get ready!” Youngjae’s mother shouted. Youngjae got out of bed, brushed his teeth, and changed into some sweats. He’d change into his uniform at school. He ran downstairs to grab a quick bite for breakfast.

“Bye Mom. I'm going now. Wish me luck alright?” 

“Good luck. You’ll do great!” Youngjae smiles at her comment and heads out the door to meet Mark and Jackson.

“You excited for the game?” Jackson asks.

“Duh. I've been looking forward to this. We better beat Jinhae!” Youngjae says.

“We will. I heard one of their star players got injured over the weekend at a party because he jumped off a balcony and into his pool. Bambam’s ankle is all messed up so he can't play. The only good players on their team are Yugyeom and their captain, Jinyoung. I think we can take them,” Mark responds. 

“I hope so. I really wanna win and beat Konkuk at the championships. We are better than Jaebeom and his team,” Youngjae says. Jackson and Mark nod. They start walking to school and get through most of their classes. After their 5th period class, they have to go change and get ready for the match. The whole team meets up in the locker room to change and get pumped for the game. 

The clock strikes 3 PM and that’s when everyone starts to file out onto the court. The seats are pretty filled with parents and some students who didn't have a 7th period class. 

“Alright team. We gotta just make sure to keep the ball up and get some aces. We’ve played them before and their key libero is out. Let’s do this. Go Mokpo!” The team shouts as the 6 starters head into the court. 

Youngjae and Jinyoung shake hands and meet the referee to decide who serves first. 

“Heads or tails?” asks the ref. 

“Tails,” Jinyoung responds, since he's the guest. The ref flips the coin and it lands on heads, so Mokpo will get to serve first. Youngjae goes to serve first. He throws the ball up into the air and serves it right above the net and the rally starts. One of the players on Jinhae’s team manages to set the ball, but Yugyeom hits the ball into the net, so the first point goes to Mokpo. 

The game keeps going and eventually the first set is won by Mokpo. They switch sides and now Jinhae gets to serve first. Jinyoung is up to serve and he serves it right to Mark, who is Mokpo’s libero. Mark manages to bump it straight to the setter, Jackson, who sets it up nicely for Youngjae to spike it. Youngjae spikes the ball over to Jinhae’s side and the other team isn't able to keep the ball up. Another point for Mokpo. The second set continues and ends pretty closely, but Mokpo managed to defeat Jinhae. Youngjae and his teammates start to celebrate a bit, but then stop to go shake the hands of the other team. 

“Great game,” Youngjae says to Jinyoung. 

“Yeah great game,”Jinyoung replies. He smiles and says “Good luck against Konkuk. I hope you all beat them. They’ve gotten too cocky and it's annoying!.Yes winning 3 years in a row is good, but you can't let it get to your head!” Jinhae’s team heads out and Youngjae continues celebrating with his teammates. 

“Hey wanna get ice cream after we change and freshen up?” Mark asks. Jackson and Youngjae nod. They go back to the locker room to take a shower and change back into their regular clothes. 

“Ahhh we get to go to the championships!” Youngjae shouts. He can't wait to celebrate with ice cream. 

Mark drives them to the ice cream shop. They order their ice cream at the counter and find a booth to sit at.

“We have a week to try and figure out some ways to improve and find Konkuk’s weak spots,”Youngjae says. 

As soon as he says this, the door of the ice cream parlor jingles. Mark and Jackson become wide-eyed. 

“What?” Youngjae asks. He turns to look and his jaw drops. He sees Jaebeom with Minseok and Junmyeon. He hasn't seen Jaebeom in a while, not since they were at the same middle school and that was about 3 years ago now. Mokpo hadn't won the playoff game to meet Konkuk at the championships in those 3 years either. It was strange to see Jaebeom after all these years and Youngjae could feel himself getting a bit angry. What is he doing here at an ice cream shop near Mokpo?


	2. Only a Meeting

A few years before ...

Jaebeom and Youngjae used to be pretty good friends. One day that changed. Youngjae had been crushing on Elkie for a while now and Jaebeom knew that. Actually, everyone knew that including Elkie. On a Friday afternoon, Youngjae and Jaebeom were supposed to hang out and play beach volleyball together, but then Jaebeom suddenly cancelled on him because he had to take care of his sick mother. Youngjae wasn’t too mad since they could play another day, but he was sad he didn’t have any plans on a Friday night. He decided to text Jackson and Mark to see what they were up to. Jackson and Mark were gonna go catch a movie and invited Youngjae along. They were going to watch the new Maze Runner movie. It looked good, so Youngjae was excited. He met up Jackson and Mark at the movie theater and they went to sit in their seats in the middle rows. As the movie is about to start, he sees a couple coming in and they sit in the back. Youngjae can’t see them clearly, so he doesn’t think he recognizes them. 

“I bet they just got random tickets so they could just make out in the back,” Jackson says to Youngjae. Youngjae laughs and then he becomes quiet as the movie starts. 

About 2 hours later, the movie is done and they are getting ready to leave. Youngjae likes to wait for everyone else to leave, so he doesn’t have to wait at the sides for people to slowly get out. He then sees the couple go down and recognizes them as Jaebeom and Elkie. 

“What the hell?” Youngjae thinks. He’s confused. Jaebeom ditched him to go on a date with Elkie? Not only did Jaebeom lie, but he was also on a date with the girl Youngjae really liked. He was angry and sad. Youngjae decided to get up and go after them. He finds Jaebeom and taps him on the shoulder. Jaebeom turns around and his eyes look scared.

“Oh Youngjae. What are you doing here?” Jaebeom asks. 

“I could ask you the same thing. I came to watch a movie with Mark and Jackson since you ditched me. What happened to taking care of your mom? Is she even sick?” Youngjae asks. Jaebeom shakes his head no. 

“You could’ve just told me the truth. You could’ve been honest with me.”

“No I couldn’t. You cannot handle the truth.”

“Yes I could!”

“Well then here it is. I like Elkie. Elkie likes me too. We’ve actually been dating for a while now and she doesn’t like you because you’re a shy coward,” Jaebeom replied. Youngjae was shocked. He didn’t think Jaebeom would be like this. 

“What? How could you say something like that to me? I thought we were friends.” Youngjae says with tears in his eyes.

“Friends can be honest with each other. I always feel like I have to tiptoe around you. It isn’t fun. You can’t take jokes well. You’re always so sensitive. Go hang out with Mark and Jackson and leave me alone,” Jaebeom says. That’s the last they speak to each other. Since then, Jaebeom ignores Youngjae and Youngjae does the same. 

Now back to present day ...

As soon as Youngjae sees Jaebeom at the ice cream shop, Jaebeom catches him staring and smirks. Youngjae turns back around.

“Oh they're coming over,”Jackson says. They continue to eat ice cream until they hear 3 sets of footsteps end at their table. 

“Heard Mokpo beat Jinhae. Congrats!” Junmyeon says. Minseok nods and Jaebeom just stands there.

“Thanks. Guess we’ll be seeing you at the championships next week,” Mark replies. 

“Yeah it’ll be an easy game. We came to watch the game. If you beat Jinhae only by that much, well you got a big storm coming,” Minseok responds. He laughs then high fives Junmyeon. 

“We’ll see,” is all Youngjae says. 

“Yeah we’ll see,” Jaebeom responds. The Konkuk guys leave the place with their ice cream and get into their car to drive away. 

“Gosh they're so conceited. I can't wait to beat them next week!” Jackson shouts. They continue to eat their ice cream. 

The week goes by and Youngjae and his teammates have been practicing very diligently. They've gotten better at their drills and seem to be getting all their hits over the blocks. Maybe this weekend won’t be too bad of a game. Obviously they want to win, but they also want to have fun doing it. They decide to rest for a bit on their last day before the big game. The whole team goes out to dinner. There’s this really good seafood restaurant that’s an hour away and they decide to go there to have a good meal before game day.

“My stomach is growling. I’m starving!” Jackson shouts. 

“We’re here. We’ll be eating in no time,” Mark says as he drives into the restaurant’s parking lot. As soon as they park, they see familiar faces walk towards a car across from them.

“Well isn’t it nice? They’re treating themselves to dinner before the game has even started,” Junmyeon says. Minseok and Jaebeom are right behind him. Youngjae looks at Jaebeom and narrows his stare. 

“We’ll be celebrating all day tomorrow too after we beat you,” Youngjae responds. Jaebeom comes over and gets in Youngjae’s face. 

“Like you have a chance. You’re still the same old Youngjae. Good luck this weekend,” Jaebeom replies. Youngjae rolls his eyes and walks away into the restaurant. Mark and Jackson follow Youngjae in. 

“We’ll beat them,” Mark says to Youngjae. Youngjae just nods and they are directed to their table. They eat their seafood dinner with the previous conversation out of their heads. They just want to relax and enjoy their time. They continue to converse with laughs here and there. Tomorrow was the big day and Youngjae couldn’t wait.


	3. Only a Missed Bus

It was finally the day Youngjae had been waiting for, championship game day. The game was being held at Jinhae high school, so it was neutral ground luckily. Youngjae awoke again with his mom shouting at him to get out of bed. The game was starting in a few hours, so Youngjae had to get ready to catch the bus to the game. He was going to meet Jackson and Mark at the bus stop, since Youngjae had a few errands he had to do before he left. As soon as he was done eating breakfast, Youngjae had to go to the store to pick up his paycheck. He had started working there recently, so his first paycheck wouldn’t directly deposit into his bank account yet. 

“Hey Mr. Kim. I’m here for my check!” Youngjae says to his boss. Mr. Kim hands him his check and Youngjae leaves the store. That was the last errand he had to do before heading to the Market bus station. It was almost time for the bus to leave, so Youngjae was running as fast as he could. The store wasn’t too far from the bus, but it wasn’t that close either. He was at the bus stop, but he didn’t recognize anyone. He kept walking around looking for his bus, but none of the people looked familiar to him. 

“What the heck? Where is everyone?” Youngjae thought to himself. He went to check his phone and found he had a ton of missed calls from his teammates. He dials Mark’s number.

“Dude Youngjae. Where are you? The bus is leaving in like 5 minutes!” Mark says. 

“I’m at the bus stop. Which bus are we taking? It’s the 408 bus right?” 

“What? No, we're taking the 116 bus.” Youngjae hurries to find the 116 bus, but none of the busses have that number.

“Mark, I can’t find the 116 bus!” 

“Did you check the group chat? We’re leaving the Konie station, not Market. Don’t tell me you’re at the Market station.”  
Youngjae stops. He’s at the Market station. 

“Oh crap. I’m at the Market station. Oh my god I don’t know what to do. I guess I’ll have to find my own way. Crap!” Youngjae shouts. People then stare at him. Youngjae is a bit embarrassed and starts walking towards the bus route map. He’s looking for a way to get to Jinhae high school when a voice suddenly starts talking.

“What are you doing here?” Youngjae turns around and finds that voice belonging to Jaebeom.

“I’m trying to get to Jinhae. What else?” Youngjae replies then turns back to the map. 

“Where’s your teammates?” Jaebeom asks.

“Well not like it’s any of your business, but I was supposed to be at Konie station and not this station, so I missed that bus.” Youngae responds. Why is he telling Jaebeom this anyways? He doesn’t need to know.

“Oh is someone lost?” Minseok teases as he comes over to Jaebeom’s side.

“No. I’m heading to Jinhae just like you all are too.” Youngjae says as he looks over and sees all of the Konkuk players. 

“Guess we’ll be on the same bus. What if your teammates think you’ve come to the dark side?” Junmyeon jokes. Youngjae sarcastically laughs and finds the 219 bus. He’s going to have to share the bus with Konkuk for an hour. Great. 

Youngjae is the first on the bus, while the Konkuk team slowly makes their way on. They’ve stuck all of their belongings underneath and so they start to trickle in. Jaebeom and his buddies decide to sit right next to Youngjae. 

“You look so sad,” Junmyeon says to Youngjae. Youngjae just ignores them by putting in his ear buds.

“Jaebeom, what’s up with you and Elkie? I haven’t seen you guys together lately,” Youngjae hears Minseok ask Jaebeom. Youngjae decides to lower his volume so he can eavesdrop.

“We broke up actually. We broke up a while ago. She was so manipulative. I can’t believe I dated her for so long. She didn’t like me playing volleyball and having to go away to games. She also didn’t like me hanging out with you guys or any friends for that matter, especially female friends. She was way too controlling,” Jaebeom responded. Youngjae was surprised to hear this. Jaebeom never looked unhappy with Elkie. They looked like they were in love. They must’ve noticed Youngjae could hear them. 

“Hey. You like eavesdropping huh? You like hearing how bad my relationship went huh?” Jaebeom asks. 

“No. I would never wish a toxic relationship on anyone,” Youngjae responds. Jaebeom is a bit taken back by his response. 

“Yeah I guess it was pretty toxic.” With that, everyone goes back to their own thing. The bus has finally reached Jinhae high school. Youngjae sees the 116 bus and hurries off the bus to meet his teammates. 

“Oh my gosh I am glad to see you guys!” Youngjae says as he walks to his teammates. 

“Thank god you made it. We were afraid we’d have to play without our captain!” Jackson shouted. 

“What bus did you take?” Mark asked. 

“I had to take the 219 bus and you’d never guess who was on it.”

“Let me guess, it was the Konkuk team?” Mark responded. Mark was staring past Youngjae and Youngjae turned around to see Jaebeom behind him.

“Youngjae, you forgot your shoes,” Jaebeom responds as he hands Youngjae his shoes.

“Oh thanks,” Youngjae coldly responds and he turns back around. Jaebeom walks away back to his teammates. 

“Let’s beat Konkuk!” Mokpo shouts as they enter Jinhae’s gym.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LOVE ELKIE so please don't be mad that I kind of made her out to be bad lolol


	4. Only the Championships

Both teams were now settling into their designated locker rooms. Youngjae looked out from the locker room and could see that some of the Jinhae volleyball players were in the stands to watch. Youngjae went back into the locker room and was feeling a bit more nervous than usual. He wanted to win, to beat Jaebeom. He wasn’t a shy coward. He could be aggressive. He could take any heat his way. He was ready to beat Konkuk. 

“Alright team. We’ve been doing well and Konkuk isn’t as great as everyone thinks. We got this! Mokpo on 3 alright? 1, 2, 3, Mokpo!” Everyone shouted it altogether while Youngjae gave the pep talk. The music starts to play and the announcer is starting his speech to introduce each team. He calls out for Mokpo, and so the whole team goes out onto the court. Youngjae, Mark, and Jackson were starting with 3 other teammates. 

Next, the announcer calls for Konkuk to come out and they do with many cheers. Sure they were the reigning champ, but Mokpo was gonna show them what’s up. Jaebeom, Minseok, and Junmyeon were starting as well. 

“Captains, please come to the ref.” Youngjae and Jaebeom head over to the ref.

“Who’s going to do the coin toss?” asks the referee. Jaebeom points to Youngjae.

“I’ll let Mokpo do it,” responds Jaebeom. Youngjae is surprised there isn’t much of a fight, but doesn’t complain.

“Heads or tails Mokpo?” 

“Tails,” Youngjae replies. The ref throws the coin up and it lands on tails. Maybe luck is on their side today.

“Tails it is. Mokpo gets to serve first." Jaebeom just shrugs and heads over to his spot. 

Youngjae goes to serve first. He gets in his stance ready and waits for the refs whistle. As soon as the ref blows his whistle, Youngjae throws the ball up to jump serve. He hits the ball towards Junmyeon, who bumps it up and the ball is set for Jaebeom to hit it. Jaebeom hits the ball past the blockers and Mark is able to bump it up to get it to Jackson. Jackson sets it up for Youngjae to hit the ball. Youngae approaches just as Jackson sets it and is in the air ready to hit it with some force. Junmyeon and Minseok are right there to block him, but Youngjae hits it past them at Jaebeom, who manages to dig the ball, but it goes in a weird direction. The ball goes out of bounds. The point goes to Mokpo. The team goes to high five Youngjae. Youngjae goes back to serve. The ref blows the whistle again and this time Youngjae serves the ball at Jaebeom. Jaebeom hits it up to the setter, who sets it up for Minseok to hit it. Minseok hits it, but Mark and Jackson block his hit and Konkuk can’t get the ball back up. Another point for Mokpo. However, the next few points go to Konkuk due to some bad sets, which Jackson feels sorry about. 

Konkuk was now ahead by 1 point and they needed one more point to win the set. It was Junmyeon’s turn to serve. He serves the ball to Mark, who bumps it up and Jackson sets it up to be hit. However, the hitter hits it into the blockers and the ball falls to the floor. The first set was taken by Konkuk.

“Better get used to more of that,” Junmyeon teases. The ref blows his whistle. The teams switch sides and take a little break to get some water. 

“It’s okay, team. It’s only the first set. We can get them in the next 2 sets,” Youngjae says to cheer up his fellow teammates. They nod and shout some words of good luck to each other. 

The ref blows his whistle to signal the end of their timeout. The second set was going to start. Everyone gets in to position. This time, Konkuk was going first, so Jaebeom was getting ready to jump serve. The whistle is blown and so Jaebeom jumps high up to serve the ball. The ball sails over the net and Mark is there to bump the ball up. Jackson sets it up for the hitter, who is able to hit the ball over the hitters, but it goes out of bounds. Konkuk wins the first point. Youngjae goes to high five the hitter for him to shrug it off. This was only the first point. Soon though, Konkuk was ahead by 5 points now. Jackson was able to sneak a hit in instead of setting the ball, and so Mokpo won that point. It was now Mokpo’s turn to serve. Mark was going to serve. He jumps serve and the ball goes over to Minseok. Minseok is able to dig it up to the setter, who sets it up for Junmyeon. Junmyeon hits the ball right at the net. Another point for Mokpo. Mokpo continues to catch up and soon both teams are tied. 

“Timeout. Konkuk.” The referee says as the teams leave to huddle again. 

“We’re doing really well. Let’s keep aiming for Minseok to bump the ball. He seems to be the weakest link right now,” Mark says to the team. Youngjae agrees. They drink some water and then the timeout is almost over when he hears some commotion from the other team. Youngjae looks over and sees that the team is not getting along right now. 

“It’s not my fault. You’re not getting the ball to me,” Youngjae hears Junmyeon say.

“Wow way to blame me,” Minseok says as he leaves the huddle and walks back onto the court. 

“Chill Junmyeon. We need to keep our team spirit up,” Jaebeom says. Junmyeon huffs and goes back to the court as well. Youngjae actually feels bad for Jaebeom. His team is falling apart. 

It’s Jackson’s turn to serve. The ball goes over to Konkuk and Junmyeon bumps it up. The other player sets it up and Jaebeom goes to hit it. He hits it hard right at Youngjae, who could feel it coming so he bumps it right to Jackson. Jackson sets it up for Youngjae to hit the ball. Youngjae pretends he’s going to hit it really hard, but ends up just hitting it lightly over, which seems to take the other team by surprise. They weren’t ready, so Minseok isn’t able to get to the ball in time before it touches the ground. Mokpo wins the point. Just one more point and Mokpo will win the set. Junmyeon just sighs really loudly, loudly enough that Minseok can hear. Minseok looks angrily at Junmyeon. 

“Shut up,” Minseok says to Junmyeon. Junmyeon just ignores him. 

Jackson goes to serve again and the ball grazes the net as it passes over. Since it touched the net, it goes off it’s predicted trajectory and is heading for Junmyeon. He wasn’t ready and so when he bumps the ball up, the setter has to chase after it and can’t set it enough for a hit. The ball is then sent over easily to Mokpo. Mark is able to dig the ball up for Jackson to set up and Youngjae gets ready to approach for the hit. He’s in the air and aims the ball for Minseok. Minseok is actually ready to receive the ball, so he digs it up and Junmyeon goes to set it up, but Junmyeon’s set goes off course and falls to the ground before anyone can go to hit it. Mokpo has taken the second set with that mistake. 

“Look who messed up this time,” Minseok says to Junmyeon. Junmyeon bumps his shoulder against Minseok as he walks past him to the bench. Youngjae and his teammates high five and take another break. Just one more set to go and then the championships will be over. 

“Junmyeon and Minseok are not getting along. Who would’ve thought?” Jackson says. Youngjae looks over to Konkuk’s team and Jaebeom is trying to get them to make up. Minseok and Junmyeon don’t look like they are going to make up anytime soon. Jaebeom looks over at Youngjae and Youngjae looks away. Youngjae goes to the water fountain to refill his bottle. As soon as he is done filling his bottle, he hears footsteps stop behind him. He turns around and sees Jaebeom. 

“What do you want?” Youngjae asks. 

“I’m just getting water,” Jaebeom responds. Youngjae feels stupid. Of course he’s just getting water.

“Oh right. Sorry,” Youngjae replies. Youngjae is about to walk away when Jaebeom decides to talk to him again.

“Wait,” Jaebeom says to Youngjae. “I know it’s been a while. I just wanted to say sorry about what happened in middle school. Elkie wasn’t worth it.” As soon as Jaebeom finishes his sentence, he walks away. Youngjae is dumbfounded. He never thought he would’ve gotten an apology from Jaebeom. Was Youngjae able to accept his apology yet? He wasn’t sure. He wouldn’t be opposed to it. Jaebeom probably said those hurtful words to Youngjae because of Elkie. Jaebeom did mention she was manipulative and didn’t like Jaebeom hanging out with people. He had to let that thought go though because the third set was just about to start. 

He puts his water bottle down and heads back onto the court. It was Mokpo’s turn to serve first again. Youngjae gets ready to set the ball and it goes over to Jaebeom. Jaebeom hits the ball to Junmyeon, and Junmyeon sets the ball for Jaebeom to hit it. Jaebeom jumps and hits the ball, which goes to Mark. Mark hits the ball up and Jackson sets it up for Youngjae to hit the ball. Youngjae goes up to hit the ball really hard and he hits it right at one of the players. He stuffs the player and the player can’t get the ball up. Mokpo wins the first point. The rally keeps going and the points keep going back and forth. Mokpo is one point ahead and they only need one more point to win the whole thing. 

“Don’t mess this up,” Youngjae says to himself as he is about to serve. Youngjae is just about to jump serve when Konkuk calls for a timeout. 

“Timeout. Konkuk,” the referee says. The teams go to huddle.

“I think we got this. We’ll win this point and beat them. Stay on your toes,” the coach says to Mokpo. He believes that they can win, so Youngjae isn’t too worried. Ever since Junmyeon and Minseok were fighting, Konkuk hasn’t been a championship type team. It might just be their downfall.

The referee blows the whistle and the teams go back onto the court. Youngjae gets ready to serve the ball when he sees a girl walk in. What is Elkie doing here? Jaebeom also notices her and his face goes pale. Youngjae thinks she must have done a number on Jaebeom to make him go pale like that. The referee blows the whistle and Youngjae serves the ball. It goes to Minseok, who is able to bump the ball up to Junmyeon. Junmyeon sets the ball up for Jaebeom to hit it. Jaebeom goes to approach but his timing is a bit off. Jaebeom jams his fingers against the ball and falls to the floor. Mokpo wins the point. Konkuk’s team goes to surround Jaebeom. Youngjae wants to celebrate, but it’s hard to celebrate when someone is injured. Elkie is right there next to the fallen Jaebeom. Jaebeom turns away from her and walks to the locker room. Elkie is annoyed at that and soon she sees Youngjae. Her face lights up with a smile as she walks over to Youngjae. 

“Oh my gosh Youngjae? Is that you? You look really different. How have you been?” Elkie asks. 

“Hey Elkie. I’ve been good. Doing really well actually. How about you?”

“Oh not too bad. Jaebeom and I are still going strong,” Elkie says. 

“Oh really? Jaebeom said you guys had broken up?” Youngjae confusingly asks.

“We didn’t break up. He’s just being stubborn. I usually don’t come to his games, but I wanted to make sure he was here and not with some other girl.” Youngjae is shocked. Elkie would try to see if Jaebeom was cheating? 

“Well he was here. Also, did you really think I was shy in middle school?” Youngjae needed to know.

“Yeah of course. You were super shy. I didn’t think you were a good friend for Jaebeom. Jaebeom needed me more.” Youngjae is shocked again. Who is she to decide what Jaebeom wants?

“What? Jaebeom needs you? I don’t think he does. He knows what he wants, and he doesn’t seem to want you,” Youngae tells Elkie. Elkie gasps.

“What the hell? Who are you to talk to me that way? Jaebeom loves me.”

“Sorry to break it to you, but no he doesn’t. He told me how manipulative you are. You’re trying to manipulate him even now. He deserves better than you.” Youngjae says to Elkie as he leaves. No wonder Jaebeom was so cold after he started dating Elkie. Youngjae is actually glad he never got with Elkie in middle school now. He dodged a bullet, which Jaebeom unfortunately didn’t. Youngjae definitely felt sorry for Jaebeom. He had to deal with this toxic girlfriend who tried to control all of his other relationships. He goes into the locker room to meet his teammates. 

“Were you just talking to Elkie? What did she want? She still looks as hot as she did in middle school,” Jackson said. Mark nodded in agreement.

“She’s crazy. Sure she may be hot, but she’s been controlling Jaebeom since they started dating in middle school. She basically admitted that she made Jaebeom end our friendship,” Youngjae explained.

“Woah what the hell? That’s insane. Good thing we steered clear then,” Mark replied. 

“I actually feel bad for Jaebeom,” Youngjae responded. 

“If what you’re saying is true, I feel bad for the guy too. Having someone try to control you like that is crazy and that definitely takes a toll,” Jackson replies. They end the conversation there and go back to celebrating. They get changed and leave Jinhae. They see Jinyoung, Bambam, and Yugyeom.

“Hey good job beating Konkuk. Glad they’re not the champs anymore,” Jinyoung says.

“Thanks,” Youngjae says. “How’s your ankle?” Youngjae asks Bambam.

“It’s healing. It’s nothing too bad luckily. If I was playing last week, I bet we would’ve beat you,” Bambam replies.

“Yeah sure. Just accept what happened,” Mark responded. Youngjae, Jackson, and Mark leave and all wait in line to get on the bus back home. 

“Can you not do this here?” Youngjae hears Jaebeom ask. He turns to look at Jaebeom, who’s talking to Elkie. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Elkie asks Jaebeom. 

“We’re broken up. Leave me alone,” Jaebeom says. 

“What? You can’t break up with me. I break up with you!” Elkie shouts. Now more people are looking.

“Fine with me. Good bye!” Jaebeom says and walks away to wait in line for the bus. Youngjae looks at Jaebeom and Jaebeom looks at Youngjae. Youngjae gives him a small smile and Jaebeom returns it. Youngjae feels bad for him and walks over.

“Hey how’s your hand?” Youngjae asks.

“It’s alright. Didn’t jam it too bad. It’ll be fine in a few days. Just gotta keep icing it,” Jaebeom says.

“I talked to Elkie earlier and wow. I can’t believe you put up with that for a few years!” Youngjae responds. Jaebeom just laughs.

“Yeah me too. I should’ve broken up with her sooner, but she messed up a lot of my relationships with people, including you,” Jaebeom says as he looks away.

“I get it now. I accept your apology,” Youngjae says. Jaebeom looks back at him with happy eyes.

“I’m glad. See you around!” Jaebeom says as he gets on the bus to Market station.Youngjae goes back to Mark and Jackson.

“Wait, are you guys okay now?” Jacksons asks.

“Yeah I guess we are,” Youngjae responds. They wait in silence until their bus comes to take them back to Konie station. They arrive at Konie station and Mark is able to drive Jackson and Youngjae to celebrate with ice cream. They sit at their usual booth and soak up the win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying to come up with new ways to write volleyball games is hard LOL   
> Anyways, hoped you liked this chapter and I'm ready for more 2jae


	5. Only the Start

It was Monday at school after the championships and everyone was praising Youngjae and his teammates. He felt so proud. He was able to go after what he wanted after all these years. He was able to show he wasn’t some shy coward anymore. He was an aggressive volleyball player who wasn’t afraid to say what he wanted anymore. Suddenly, he got a notification on his phone. He looked at it and saw he had gotten a friend request from Jaebeom on Facebook. Youngjae opened the app and looked at Jaebeom’s profile. It was basically all private except for the profile picture and header. Youngjae decided to accept his friend request. He put his phone back in his pocket to head to class.

After school was over, Youngjae went over to his locker and then checked his phone. Jaebeom had messaged him through Facebook. He wanted to hang out with Youngjae after school. Youngjae decided to go along with it. No harm in hanging out with him. Jaebeom responded and said he’d meet Youngjae at a cafe. 

“Hey Youngjae. Wanna go get some food?” Mark asked. 

“Oh I actually have plans. Rain check?” Mark nodded and left. Youngjae walked to the cafe and arrived first. He ordered his drink then sat down at a table waiting for Jaebeom. A few minutes later, he sees Jaebeom come in. Jaebeom comes to sit down.

“Hi”

“Hi,” Youngjae responds. It’s a bit awkward. He doesn’t really know what to say.

“How was school today?” Jaebeom asked.

“It wasn’t too bad. How about you?”

“Ugh it was annoying. Junmyeon and Minseok are still a bit upset at each other.”

“Oh dang. They should know sometimes people make mistakes. Oh also how is your hand?”

“Oh it’s alright. My hand isn’t in too much pain now. Also, thanks for agreeing to meet up. I wasn’t sure if you would want to, but I’m glad we get to hang out again. I missed it,” Jaebeom shyly said.

“I think I missed it too. We were good friends. It sucked when we weren’t friends. However, I think it made me the person I am today. I would not have tried out for the volleyball team initially and I for sure would’ve never talked back at Elkie either.” Jaebeom laughed.

“Maybe we had to go through those horrible years to get to where we are now.” Youngjae agreed. 

“Anyways, I wanted to apologize again. I shouldn’t have called you a shy coward because you aren’t. You were a good friend to me and I threw it away for a girl.” 

“You can just make it up to me with dinner,” Youngjae says. Jaebeom smiles.

“Do you wanna go get dinner tonight?” Jaebeom asks.

“Sure. We can grab dinner after this.” Youngjae replies. 

“I have my car so we can go anywhere you like.”

“You know what? I missed when we would go have those burger and shakes near that arcade and then go play arcade games. I actually avoided that place for a while just in case you were there.” Youngjae admits. 

“No way. I avoided that place too,” Jaebeom says as they both laugh. Youngjae looks at Jaebeom and realizes he really missed his friend even after all these years. 

“Alright, then it’s settled. We’re gonna get burgers and play arcade games.” Youngjae says. Jaebeom agrees and they leave the cafe to go to the burger joint. The drive to the restaurant is quiet, but not as awkward as earlier. It takes only 15 minutes to get there and it looks just like it used to. 

“Not much has changed huh?” Jaebeom asks. Youngjae turns to Jaebeom and nods. They go into the restaurant and order their burgers and shakes. 

“Oh my god. I’ve missed this burger and this shake so much. So much nostalgia!” Youngjae says.

“Same. I’ve missed this so much! Elkie never wanted to come here,” Jaebeom responds. They finish their burgers and shakes. The check comes and Jaebeom grabs it right away.

“Hey wait let’s split the bill. My burger was a bit more expensive than yours,” Youngjae says. 

“No it’s my treat to make up for the past few years,” Jaebeom responds. 

“Well thank you then.” Jaebeom pays the bill and they then leave to walk next door to the arcade. 

“Wow it looks honestly the same,” Youngjae says. Jaebeom agrees. 

“Oh man! Remember we used to always battle on skeeball?” Jaebeom asks. Of course Youngjae remembers. They head over to the skeeball machines and play. They become competitive again. Jaebeom manages to beat Youngjae every time. 

“Wow you’re not good at skeeball,” Jaebeom teases. 

“ I always lost to you,” Youngjae replied. Jaebeom laughs as if he now remembers winning all the time.

“I probably should’ve let you win once in a while,” Jaebeom admits. 

“That would’ve been nice!” Youngjae says as they both burst out laughing again. This was nice. Youngjae loves hanging out with Jaebeom. They keep playing games and they win a lot of tickets.

“The place is almost closing, so we should go get our prizes,” Youngjae says. Jaebeom takes their tickets and goes to the machine to count them. They had acquired enough tickets to get the good prizes. They head to the prize booth.

“What would you like?” the worker asks them. 

“Pick something,” Jaebeom says. 

“What? You won most of the tickets. You should choose.”

“No it’s okay. I don’t need anything. I want to get you something.” 

“Wow you’re spoiling me today. Fine, I’ll take that,” Youngjae says as he points to the big stuffed dog. The worker gets the stuffed dog for Youngjae and hands it to him. 

“You guys make a cute couple,” the worker says. Jaebeom and Youngjae both blush.

“Oh we’re just friends,” Youngjae says. 

“Suuuuuure,” the worker says and winks. Youngjae blushes even more. Jaebeom and Youngjae leave and walk back to Jaebeom’s car. They get into the car and Jaebeom drives Youngjae home. They finally arrive at Youngjae’s house. 

“Thanks for tonight. It was fun,” Youngjae tells Jaebeom.

“It was fun for me too. We should do this again,” Jaebeom says. Youngjae nods. Youngjae gets out of the car and walks toward his front door. He doesn’t hear the car drive away. Jaebeom is waiting for Youngjae to go inside safely before he leaves. Youngjae closes the door once he is inside and then looks out the window. He sees Jaebeom finally drive away. 

“Youngjae. What are you doing? What’s with the stuffed dog? ” Youngjae’s mom asks. 

“Oh nothing. I was just out with Jaebeom tonight. We went to an arcade” Youngjae replies.

“What? Wow I haven’t heard you talk about him in a while. Glad you guys are friends again. I always liked him,” she says as Youngjae goes upstairs to his room. He places the stuffed dog next to him on his bed. He did have a really good time with Jaebeom. It was weird the worker thought they were a couple. They were just friends. Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't be updating every day but bear with me! I have school and clinicals so yeah lol   
> Stay safe everyone!


	6. Only friends

It’s been 2 months since the end of the volleyball season and they were now graduating from high school. Jaebeom and Youngjae have been hanging out a lot more, sometimes with Jackson and Mark as well. It felt just like old times. They also were all going to the same university for volleyball in the fall. 

Jaebeom had come to their graduation to cheer them on as they walked across the stage for their diploma. The graduation ceremony was over and Jaebeom met up with the others.

“Guess we’ll all be on the same team. We’ll be teammates!” Jackson says. 

“Yeah we will be. It’ll be like old times,” Youngjae says. Jaebeom agrees. 

“What are you all doing for the summer?” Mark asks.

“I’m going to China to visit family,” Jackson replies.

“I think I’ll be looking for a job,” Jaebeom says. 

“I’ll be working at the shop still. What about you, Mark?” Youngjae asks.

“I might go on a road trip with my family and maybe stream some games on Twitch. I’ve been getting a pretty good following on there,” Mark replies. 

“When do you leave for China, Jackson?” Youngjae asks.

“In a few days,” Jackson replies. 

“What??? And you didn’t tell us sooner????” Mark responds. Youngjae and Jaebeom are also confused.

“I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. I’ll be back in a few months before school starts anyways. I won’t be gone the entire summer!” Jackson replies.

“Well we need to celebrate us graduating and you leaving,” Youngjae says. 

“Let’s go get burgers and play some arcade games!” Jaebeom suggests. Everyone is on board. They all get into Jaebeom’s car to head to the burger joint. As soon as they get to the burger joint, they are able to find a table to sit and order their burgers. 

“I’ll miss these burgers when I’m in China,” Jackson says as he stuffs his mouth with a bite. They finish their dinner and head over to play arcade games.

“Oh you guys brought friends this time,” the arcade worker says to Jaebeom and Youngjae.

“Hey Arnold. Yeah the more the merrier,” Youngjae responds. Arnold nods and leaves them to play their games.They play DDR, skee ball, basketball, and some racing games. They’ve racked up some tickets and Jaebeom chooses a prize this time. 

“Oh you’re not letting your boyfriend choose this time?” Arnold asks. Youngjae blushes.

“What?!?” Mark and Jackson reply.

“For the nth time Arnold, we’re just friends!” Jaebeom says and he points to a prize.

“Uh huh, suuuure. See you next time!” Arnold says as the guys leave the arcade.

“That was weird. How do you know that guy?” Jackson responds.

“We don’t really. We’ve just hung out a lot at the arcade since it’s fun and he just assumed we were dating. I don’t know why,” Youngjae replies. 

“Is there something you 2 aren’t telling us? You have been spending more time together!” Mark asks.

“There’s nothing to tell,” Jaebeom says. With that, they get back into Jaebeom’s car. He drops Mark and Jackson off first and then goes to drop off Youngjae. 

“Is your shop hiring?” asks Jaebeom.

“I think Mr. Kim has been needing some extra hands, so I can let him know you’re interested!” Youngjae replies.

“Thanks. I could use some extra cash, especially with us always hanging out and eating so much.”

“True. Anyways, thanks for the ride home and I’ll get back to you with what Mr. Kim says. I’ll be working tomorrow, maybe you can stop by and talk to him in person as well.” 

“Alright, I’ll stop by the shop. See you tomorrow, Youngjae.” Youngjae gets out of the car and walks to his door. Again, Jaebeom doesn’t leave until Youngjae is inside his house. Youngjae can’t help but feel appreciative of that. 

After Youngjae has showered and changed into his pajamas, he gets into bed. He plugs his phone into its charger and then sees he has a text from Jaebeom.

_Hey. I just got home. Today was fun. Too bad Jackson is leaving._

Youngjae decides to respond to his text.

_Yeah it sucks he’s leaving, but at least we’ll have each other and Mark. Hopefully you two don’t get too busy and can’t spend time with me._

Youngjae sends the text and Jaebeom replies almost instantly.

_I will always make time for you._

Why did that text make Youngjae’s heart skip a beat? He smiles so big from that text. He hasn’t really thought of Jaebeom as more than a friend before, but lately he is starting to develop a crush.   
“No I can’t. We just started to grow our friendship back. I can’t ruin this,” Youngjae thinks to himself. He responds to Jaebeom’s text.

_That’s nice. I’m going to sleep now. See you tomorrow!_

_Alright. See you tomorrow. Good night, Youngjae._

Oh my gosh Jaebeom wished him a good night. Youngjae tries not to read too much into the texts. It’s just a simple good night. No hidden meaning or anything. Youngjae tries to pretend it's nothing, but he can’t help feeling all giddy inside. With that, Youngjae goes to sleep with a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think so far!


	7. Only a Job

Youngjae wakes up at 10:45 AM with his alarm to get ready for work. He likes to give himself a bit of time before work to relax a bit. He eats his breakfast slowly watching Youtube videos before he leaves for work.

“Mom. I’m heading to work now. Bye.” Youngjae heads out for work. He walks a bit before he gets to the shop.

“Hey Mr. Kim.” Youngjae says as he walks into the shop. 

“Hi Youngjae. Go clock in. I have to show you how to work the new credit card machine.”

Youngjae goes to put his apron on and then clocks in. He goes back out to the counter to learn the new credit card machine. It’s so much nicer. It actually itemizes stuff. Before, he’d have to use a calculator to calculate what people wanted. It was so old school. This new technology would be a blessing to his nonexistent math skills. 

“Oh Mr. Kim, one of my friends is looking for a job and is gonna stop by later. Are you hiring right now?” Youngjae asks.

“Sure, I could use a set of hands to help out. I trust you, so I’ll trust he’s a good worker. He could start today if you can call him right now. Chanyeol called out sick today.” 

“Sure I’ll call him right now then.” Youngjae goes to the back to get his phone to call Jaebeom. It rings a few times until Jaebeom picks up.

“Hello?”

“Jaebeom. Hey. Mr. Kim says you can start today. Are you free right now? Come asap!” Youngjae says. 

“Oh wow. What a coincidence. I’m already here actually,” Jaebeom says. Youngjae looks outside the back room and sees Jaebeom. 

“Oh I see you.” Youngjae hangs up the phone and puts his phone back in his locker. He walks out to the front.

“Hey. Jaebeom, this is Mr. Kim. Mr. Kim, this is my friend, Jaebeom.” Jaebeom bows to Mr. Kim.

“I’m ready to start working,” Jaebeom says. 

“Alright. Youngjae, can you show him where to put his stuff and clock in and everything. Just show him around,” Mr. Kim says. Youngjae guides Jaebeom to the back.

“This is where we keep our aprons and our belongings. Since you probably don’t have a lock with you today, you can put your stuff in my locker.” Youngjae opens his locker up and Jaebeom takes off his jacket and puts his belongings in the locker. As Jaebeom was taking off his jacket, Youngjae couldn’t help but notice how wide his shoulders were. 

“Stop that,” Youngjae thinks to himself. Youngjae goes to lock the locker and gives Jaebeom an apron. 

“Okay so this is the back area. We can restock stuff from over here and then we’ll go back outside. We need a few more boxes of those, so can you grab some with me and help me bring them out?” Jaebeom nods and goes to grab some of the boxes. He grabs a lot more than Youngjae can. Youngjae can’t believe Jaebeom is that strong. He continues to stare until Jaebeom clears his throat. Youngjae stops staring and grabs the other boxes and shows the way to restock it. 

“So we just place the items depending on their expiration date. The older ones go up front. Just common sense stuff. Not too hard,” Youngjae says as they both start to stock the shelves. Soon a customer comes in and starts shopping around. The customer has grabbed everything and is now waiting in line.

“Hey there’s a customer, Follow me. I’ll show you how to check them out and such,” Youngjae says to Jaebeom. Jaebeom follows him to the counter. 

“Hi sir. I’m ready,” Youngjae says. The customer comes over and places all of his items on the counter. 

“Find everything alright?” Youngjae asks. The customer nods. 

“Okay so we scan everything and then press total. We just got this credit card machine this weekend, so I’m a bit new to it too. You don’t have to do much. It should automatically have the total from the register.” The customer swipes his card and the items are purchased for. 

“Now we just bag the items,” Jaebeom starts bagging the items and as he finishes, he hands it to the customer.

“Have a good day,” Youngjae smiles at the customer. The customer leaves with his items.

“See? Not too bad right?” Youngjae comments to Jaebeom. 

“Yeah, doesn’t seem too hard.” The day goes by and Jaebeom picks up the skills really quickly. The work day is over and they go to the back to get their belongings. 

“Hey Jaebeom. Send me your schedule and then I’ll start scheduling you for shifts. Good job today!” Mr. Kim says. Jaebeom nods and sends a schedule almost immediately. 

“Wow i’m actually tired!” Jaebeom says. 

“Working is tiring huh?” Youngjae asks. 

“Yeah, but I’m not tired enough to grab a bite. Wanna grab a bite?” Jaebeom asks Youngjae. 

“Sure, I could go for a bite.” They head over to the Korean restaurant across the street. They were known for all you can eat Korean barbeque and Youngjae loved this place.

“Have you eaten here before?” Youngjae asks Jaebeom. Jaebeom shakes his head no. “Oh man you’re in for a treat then!” Youngjae starts to order a plate of bulgogi, kalbi, and spicy pork belly. Soon it arrives at the table and Youngjae starts cooking it. Jaebeom helps as well and soon Youngjae notices that Jaebeom grills better than him.

“Wow your grilling skills are better than mine,” Youngjae comments. Jaebeom finishes grilling some bulgogi and serves it to Youngjae.

“Thanks,” Youngjae says as he dips his meat into the sauce and eats it. “Oh wow, it’s cooked perfectly. Keep doing what you’re doing!” Jaebeom keeps grilling and Youngjae notices that he isn’t really eating. 

“Hey do you want to eat some pieces?” Youngjae asks.

“Of course, but I’m busy grilling.” Youngjae grabs a few pieces of meat.

“Here. I guess I’ll have to feed you then.” Youngjae brings the chopsticks closer to Jaebeom’s mouth as he opens wide for the meat. They lock eyes. Youngjae looks away first and uses his chopsticks to get more meat for himself. 

“I’ll be the griller if you feed me,” Jaebeom teases. Youngjae continues to feed Jaebeom some meat. Soon they’re pretty stuffed and Jaebeom is finally done grilling everything.

“Okay you were right. This place has really good meat. I’m glad we were able to eat here after work,” Jaebeom says. 

“Yeah this is my favorite K-BBQ place in the city. I’m glad you liked it.” The waitress comes over and places the bill down. Youngjae and Jaebeom reach for it at the same time and their hands touch. Jaebeom pulls his hand away first.

“It’s my turn to pay,” Youngjae says to Jaebeom.

“No way, this place is way more expensive! Let’s split it at least.”

“It’s fine. It’ll be my treat and this can be my way of congratulating you on your first day of work too,” Youngjae replies. Jaebeom gives in. Youngjae looks at the bill. Oh yeah it was high. Two guys can surely eat a lot of meat. The bill is paid for and all of the meat is finally finished.They get up to exit the restaurant. 

“I had to drive here, so I can drive you back home,” Jaebeom says.

“Oh it’s fine. I live only a few minutes away. I always walk to work.”

“No come on, you got me a job and treated me to dinner. The least I could do is drive you home,” Jaebeom replies. 

“Okay fine. I am feeling a bit too full to walk anyways,” Jaebeom smiles at Youngjae’s response. Jaebeom puts his arm around Youngjae and they walk to his car. Youngjae is a little unsure of this closeness. He looks at Jaebeom and he can’t help but smile. Jaebeom looked so cute. Wait Youngjae stops that thought. They’re just friends. They walk to the car and get in. Jaebeom already knows the way to Youngjae’s house.

“When do you work next?” Jaebeom asks Youngjae. 

“I don’t work for the next few days.”

“Cool. Me neither. Should we ask Mark to hang out? Jackson already left right? ” 

“Yeah I’ll text them. I’ll make a group chat for all of us. Jackson leaves in 2 days I believe so we should plan something for tomorrow.” Youngjae takes his phone out and starts the group chat. Jaebeom has already arrived at Youngjae’s place when Youngjae’s mom sees the car pull up.

“Yah Youngjae, invite Jaebeom in. I’ve made some food.”

“You wanna come in?” Youngjae asks.

“I can’t refuse Mama Choi. I’ll park in the garage. Is that cool?”

“Yeah, we don’t even use it really anyways. Go ahead.” Jaebeom pulls the car into the garage and they get out of the car. They go inside and sit on the sofa in front of the tv.

“I made some mochi. I tried out this famous Japanese baker’s recipe. You like mochi?” Youngjae’s mom asks Jaebeom. Jaebeom nods and she gives him a bowl of mochi. 

“Mom, we just had korean bbq. We’re stuffed,” Youngjae says as he gives the bowl back to his mom.

“It’s okay. I can take them to go.” Jaebeom says and Youngjae’s mom goes to package them up for Jaebeom to take back to his family. Both Youngjae’s phone and Jaebeom’s phone go off from the group chat.

_MK: I’m free tomorrow.  
JS: I’m free as well. It’s my last day before I go anyway.   
YJ: Alright. Are you all interested in a beach volleyball game?   
JB: just 2 on 2?  
MK: I’m down.  
JS: Same I’m down. Mark, wanna be teammates?  
MK: DUH.  
YJ: Guess Jaebeom, you’re mine.  
JB: Our team is gonna win.  
JS: lol yeah sure we’ll see about that  
MK: okay what time do you wanna meet?  
YJ: we could meet at 2 PM and then go get dinner afterwards  
MK: sounds good to me  
JS: same  
JB: see you all tomorrow then_

“We can go watch tv in my room,” Youngjae suggests. Jaebeom hasn’t been to Youngjae’s room in years.They walk upstairs to Youngjae’s room and Jaebeom opens the door first.

“Wow it looks the same,” Jaebeom comments as he walks in.

“No it doesn’t!” Youngjae responds as he walks in after Jaebeom. 

“Yeah it does. You haven’t changed much huh?” Jaebeom teases. Youngjae slaps Jaebeom’s arm. 

“Oh you hit me,” Jaebeom said. 

“Oh sorry. Did it hurt?” Youngjae asks.

“No. No, it didn’t hurt. I’ve just noticed that you don’t hit people unless you’re comfortable enough with them. Guess you’re comfortable with me now,” Jaebeom smiles. Youngjae has never noticed he does that, but he’s surprised Jaebeom has.

“Oh I’ve never noticed,” Youngjae blushes in embarrassment. 

“I’ve been waiting for you to hit me actually,” Jaebeom starts laughing.

“Well you’ve got what you wished for,” Youngjae says as he laughs. They go sit on Youngjae’s bed to watch some episodes of Supernatural. 

“Why are we watching this show?” Youngjae asks.

“It’s a good show and it isn’t even scary!” 

“It is scary!” Youngjae replies, but they continue watching anyway. There is a thrilling scene right now and Youngjae is a bit scared. He clings onto Jaebeom and tries to hide behind him. The music is starting to quicken and Youngjae can sense a jump scare is about to happen. He hides behind his hands. Jaebeom helps to cover Youngjae’s eyes as he watches the scene with no problem. The jump scare happens and Youngjae cowers against Jaebeom. 

“Was it really that bad?” Jaebeom asks as he looks down as Youngjae in his lap.

“Yes it was,” Youngjae responds as he looks up at Jaebeom. Jaebeom is looking at him and Youngjae just has a weird desire to kiss him. He decides not to though because he has no idea what Jaebeom thinks. He doesn’t want to ruin their friendship. Youngjae gets up and he changes the show to Avatar: The last airbender. They watch a few episodes when Jaebeom suddenly gets up.

“I’m gonna go now. It’s a bit late and we gotta play volleyball tomorrow. I need rest in order to play well. We’ll beat them tomorrow for sure! Do you need a ride to the beach?” 

“Sure. I could use a ride. I’ll walk you out.” Youngjae and Jaebeom walk downstairs. Youngjae’s mom hands Jaebeom the mochi and he bows to thank her for it. They walk out to his car.

“Thanks for dinner again and the job,” Jaebeom says to Youngjae. They hug and as they pull away, Jaebeom places a kiss on Youngae’s cheek. Youngjae pulls away and puts his hand on his cheek.

“Oh sorry. I didn’t mean to.” Jaebeom says as he gets in his car and drives off. Youngjae is in disbelief. Maybe Jaebeom likes him? He knows Jaebeom must be feeling a little embarrassed, so Youngjae decides to text him.

_Hey I didn’t mind it. See you tomorrow!_

Youngjae goes to shower. He finishes showering and then he notices he has a text message from Jaebeom.

_Sorry. I didn’t want to make things awkward. Still want a ride tomorrow?_

_It wasn’t awkward. It’s fine. Yes I’ll still take you up on the ride._

_Alright. Good night Youngjae._

Youngjae plugs his phone into its charger and gets into bed. He really didn't mind the kiss at all. He kind of liked it. Did he like Jaebeom? He loved hanging out with him and wouldn’t mind going on dates with him. He opens up the Instagram app on his phone and stalks Jaebeom’s account. Jaebeom’s instagram has some selfies here and there but at weird angles or with weird effects. 

“Sigh why can’t you just be normal and post a regular selfie,” Youngjae thinks to himself. He keeps scrolling and then he accidentally double taps on Jaebeom’s selfie from 2 years ago. 

“Oh crap!” Youngjae says as he unlikes the post. Youngjae decides that is enough social media for the night, so he puts his phone to sleep and closes his eyes. Hopefully Jaebeom doesn’t get the notification.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think so far :)   
> I've decided to end this at 10 chapters so just 3 more to go!


	8. Only A Kiss

Youngjae is up and ready for the beach volleyball game. He’s just waiting for Jaebeom outside. Jaebeom’s car pulls up and Youngjae walks to get in the passenger seat. 

“Good afternoon,” Youngjae says as he gets in.

“Good afternoon,” Jaebeom says. He doesn’t drive off yet. Youngjae is confused.

“Aren’t we going to go?” Youngjae questions. Jaebeom suddenly turns off the engine. 

“Look Youngjae. I’m sorry about yesterday. I obviously overstepped. I don’t want that to ruin our friendship.”

“Jaebeom. I already told you. It’s not a big deal. I’m fine with it.” 

“Okay. I just wanted to make sure.” With that, Jaebeom starts the car again and drives to the beach. They just listen to music on the drive. Youngjae is a bit relieved that Jaebeom never mentions him liking an old Instagram post. Maybe Jaebeom didn’t get the notification.

They arrive at the beach and they can see that Mark and Jackson have reserved a court. As they get out of the car, they see 3 guys walk over to Mark and Jackson. The guys are laughing, so they’re probably not fighting over the court. Jaebeom and Youngjae walk over to Mark and Jackson.

“Hey Mark and Jackson. Oh hey! What’s up?” Youngjae says to the other guys. 

“Hey Youngjae and Jaebeom. We were going to play volleyball here today too. We can play a game together if that’s cool with you guys,” Jinyoung says. Bambam and Yugyeom had come to play as well. Bambam’s foot was done healing, but he wanted to be safe and so he was just going to watch. They split into teams of 3. Youngjae, Mark, and Jackson were on one team. Jaebeom, Jinyoung, and Yugyeom were on the other. 

“You’re going down!” Jackson taunts. He sticks out his tongue at the other team.

“Yeah suure. Let’s put our skills to the test then! We’ll let you serve first too,” Yugyeom replies. He tosses the ball to Youngjae, who was going to serve first. Youngjae throws the ball up into the air and serves the ball to the other team. It goes over the net and Yugyeom is there to dig the ball. He bumps it to have Jinyoung set it up for Jaebeom to hit the ball. Jaebeom approaches the ball and goes up to hit the ball. He hits it with a bit of force and he stuffs Mark. Mark isn’t able to get the ball to Jackson, and so the ball drops to the floor. 

“How do you like that?” Jaebeom taunts Mark. Mark pouts.

“Whatever. Your turn to serve,” Mark responds. Jackson throws the ball to Jaebeom. Jaebeom gets ready to jump serve the ball. It goes over to Youngjae, who is able to bump it to Jackson. Jackson sets it up and Mark gets ready to hit the ball. As he is in the air, Jaebeom and Jinyoung are ready to block his hit. Mark sees this, and he’s able to aim his hit right between them and Yugyeom isn’t able to run for the ball fast enough. 

“How do you like that now?” Mark taunts Jaebeom. Jaebeom just laughs. They continue playing for a few more hours before they have tired themselves out. They took breaks to just sit on the beach between sets as well. 

“Damn we’re tied. We’re too good,” Jinyoung says. Everybody laughs at his comment. 

“Are you all tired? I’m tired. I think i’m gonna call it a day,” Youngjae says. Everyone nods. 

“It was fun to watch though. Anyways wanna all go grab something to eat now?” Bambam asks.

“I’m down to grab food. I’m starving,” Jackson replies. They all get into their cars and decide to go grab some dinner together at a Chinese restaurant nearby. Youngjae gets into Jaebeom’s car and puts his seatbelt on.

“Our teams were pretty well matched,” Youngjae says to Jaebeom.

“Yeah, but I wanted to be on your team,” Jaebeom replies. Youngjae blushes.

“Next time, we’ll be on the same team then,” Youngjae says, which makes Jaebeom smile. Jaebeom drives to the restaurant. They walk inside to meet the others. 

“This place has some pretty good dumplings. We gotta order the xiao long baos and the dried fried chicken wings. Are you all okay with that?” Jackson asks everyone. 

“I want a bowl of black bean noodles too,” Yugyeom replies. 

“I want some too. Wanna share?” Mark asks Yugyeom. Yugyeom nods. 

“How about we get a few of everything to share?” Jackson asks. 

“Sounds good to me,” Jaebeom replies. Everyone also agrees to eat family style. Jackson orders the food in Chinese to the waiters. Everyone just continues conversing until the food starts to come out. It looks amazing. The xiao long baos are steaming hot and the chicken wings are drizzled in the glistening sauce. The black bean noodles are ready to be mixed. 

“Oh man everything looks good!” Bambam says. Everyone starts to dig in. The food is consumed very quickly. Everyone was basically starving after the volleyball game, so the food is gone in no time.

“Wow I’m stuffed. Thanks Jackson for the recommendation. This place is really good!” Youngjae says. The waiter then drops off the check and Mark takes the check. 

“Here. It’ll be my treat this time, since Jackson will be leaving us in a few days for China.” Everyone thanks Mark for his kindness.

“Next time, I'll get the bill then,” Bambam replies. Everyone leaves the restaurant and says their goodbyes. Everyone hugs Jackson as well, since he’ll be leaving the next day. 

“We’ll miss you. When do you come back?” Youngjae asks Jackson.

“I’ll be back like the week before uni starts. We’ll all hang out then!” Jackson says. He gets into Mark’s car and waves goodbye. 

“It was fun playing with you all. Let’s do this again sometime,” Jinyoung says as he, Yugyeom, and Bambam leave. 

“Yeah. See you all later!” Jaebeom says as he walks with Youngjae back to his car. They get into the car and Jaebeom doesn’t start the engine right away.

“I know you said you were fine with what happened last night, but why are you fine with it? Most guys I know would’ve been totally weirded out by it,” Jaebeom says. Youngjae just shrugs.

“I’m not sure. People kiss each other on the cheek all the time in Europe. Why should it be weird?” 

“Well, I kind of have a confession to make and I really hope it doesn’t ruin our relationship. I hope we can still be friends even if you reject me.”

“Reject you?” Youngjae is puzzled. 

“Yeah reject me. I ... okay I like you, Youngjae.”

“I like you too, Jaebeom. That’s why we’re friends.”

“No, I mean I like you, like you,” Jaebeom explains. 

“Oh.” Youngjae replies. He doesn’t really know how else to respond.

“Yeah I just wanted to get that off my chest now. We can go back to being friends. Don’t worry. I can push my feelings aside for our friendship.” Jaebeom is about to put the key into the ignition when Youngjae puts his right hand on Jaebeom’s cheek and turns Jaebeom’s face towards his. Youngjae starts to lean in for a kiss. Jaebeom’s shocked, but he also leans in. This time, they kiss on the lips and not the cheek. Youngjae pulls away first.

“What was that?” Jaebeom asks.

“That was me not rejecting you,” Youngjae replies with a smile.

“I am glad you like me. I had gotten some hints here and there, but wasn’t sure. However, I did notice you liked one of my pictures on instagram from like 2 years ago. Stalking now are we?” Jaebeom jokes.

“That was an accident okay, but yes I was looking at your account.” Youngjae blushes. With that, Jaebeom starts the engine and he puts his right hand out so Youngjae can hold it. Youngjae hooks his left hand with Jaebeom’s hand as Jaebeom drives to Youngjae’s house. 

Jaebeom pulls up in front of Youngjae’s house and before Youngjae leaves. Jaebeom gives him a quick kiss on the lips.

“Do you wanna go out next week?” Jaebeom asks.

“Sure. I’m free pretty much every day,” Youngjae replies.

“No, I mean for a date.” 

“Oh. Yeah I’m free to go on a date with you,” Youngjae says. It feels weird to say. 

“How about this Friday night?”

“That should work with me.”

“Alright, it’s a date! See you Friday night. I’ll pick you up at 5.” Youngjae kisses Jaebeom again before he exits the car. Jaebeom doesn’t drive off until Youngjae closes the front door. He goes up to his room and he can’t help but smile. He’s really going on a date with Jaebeom. He can’t wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment about what you think :)   
> Just 2 more chapters left!


	9. Only a Date

It was finally Friday night. It couldn’t come quick enough. Jaebeom had asked Youngjae out on a date, like an official date. Youngjae still couldn't believe it. He was more nervous than usual to hang out with Jaebeom. It had always been super casual, but now he felt like he needed to dress up a bit more and look more presentable. Youngjae wasn’t sure where Jaebeom was taking him, so he didn’t want to dress too over the top. He decided to wear some black slacks, brown dress shoes, a white button up, and a dark jean jacket. Suddenly, his phone pinged. Youngjae went to check his phone and saw a text from Jaebeom stating he was waiting outside. Youngjae replied that he was coming down now, so he checked himself in the mirror one more time before heading downstairs.

“Wow you look nicer than usual,” Youngjae’s mom said. 

“I’m going out with Jaebeom tonight. Don’t wait up!” Youngjae replied to his mom. He waved goodbye then walked outside. He saw Jaebeom leaning against the passenger side door. Jaebeom had gotten out of the car and Youngjae couldn’t stop staring. Jaebeom cleaned up so nicely. His hair was slicked back, exposing his forehead. He was wearing black dress shoes, black dress pants, and a black button up with 2 buttons undone. He looked really good in all black. Youngjae walked over to the car as Jaebeom opened up the passenger door for him. 

“Wow you look great,” Jaebeom said to Youngjae.

“You look even better,” Youngjae responded back. Youngjae got into the car and thanked Jaebeom for opening it for him. Jaebeom closed the door and walked over to the driver’s side to get in. 

“Where are we going?” Youngjae asks.

“It’ll be a surprise!” Jaebeom replied. Youngjae pouts a little bit. He doesn’t really like surprises, but he’ll suck it up for Jaebeom. Jaebeom starts to drive away. Youngjae just stares out of the car window to see if he can guess where they are heading. He notices that they’re heading towards Jinhae. 

“Are we going to Jinhae?” Youngjae asks. Jaebeom doesn’t reply. Youngjae goes back to staring outside the window. Soon, they arrive at Jinhae high school. Jaebeom pulls into a parking spot outside of the school.

“Why are we at Jinhae high school?” Youngjae asks. This time Jaebeom responds.

“This is where we had the championship game. I was bummed out we lost, but I had gained my friend back that day. This place was where our friendship blossomed again, and might bloom into something more. There’s a nice little beach nearby, so I thought we could have our date there,” Jaebeom says as he goes to the trunk to retrieve a picnic basket with a picnic blanket. Youngjae can’t help but smile. He's not used to be treated this way. Youngjae helps to carry the blanket while Jaebeom carries the picnic basket. They walk hand in hand to the beach, which was surprisingly pretty empty. There were only a few groups out there. They found a nice spot with a great view of the water and the sun was already setting. Youngjae lays the blanket down on the sand as Jaebeom places the picnic basket in the middle.

“What do we have to eat in here?” Youngjae says as he opens up the picnic basket. He finds some candles as well as a charcuterie platter, a small wine bottle, and some wine glasses. He looks up at Jaebeom who is blushing.

“I hope you like what I brought. It isn’t much, but I thought it’d be kind of romantic,” Jaebeom replies. 

“I love it,” Youngjae says as Jaebeom sits down. They open up the charcuterie platter and start munching on some meats and cheese. Jaebeom opens up the wine bottle and starts pouring some glasses. Jaebeom is trying not to drink too much since he has to drive. 

“How did you find out about this spot?” Youngjae asks.

“I would sometimes hang out with some guys from Jinhae without Elkie knowing and we’d come out here a lot to chill and play volleyball. I have made a lot of good memories here, so I wanted to make another one here, with you.” Who knew Jaebeom could be this cheesy? 

“I’m glad you brought me here. It’s really nice,” Youngjae says to Jaebeom. They finish the platter and put the drinks away. They lie down and just stare up at the sky. The stars are starting to peek through the night sky. 

‘I could stay here forever,” Jaebeom says.

“Me too.” Youngjae turns on his side to face Jaebeom. Jaebeom does the same. 

“I’m glad Mokpo made it to the championships. Otherwise, this would’ve never happened,” Youngjae says. Jaebeom smiles and starts to get closer to Youngjae. He leans forward so they can kiss. He leaves a peck and they just cuddle as they stare at the stars. Youngjae really wishes they could stay like this forever, but eventually it starts to get darker, so they pack everything up and walk back to the car. Jaebeom has sobered up, so he can still drive them back. Jaebeom drives them back to the city to drop off Youngjae. 

“You seem a bit tired. Sorry you always have to drive. Do you want to sleep over?” Youngjae asks Jaebeom.

“I don’t mind driving and I would love to. Your mom wouldn’t mind?” 

“No. She goes to sleep early anyways.” Youngjae replies. Jaebeom drives to Youngjae’s house and parks in the garage again. They both go inside and go upstairs to Youngjae’s room. A bit of sleeping is done that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG just one more chapter left. I hope you enjoyed their date!  
> Let me know what you think in the comments.


	10. Only the Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG the last chapter! Sorry it took a while, but I hope you enjoy this conclusion.

Jaebeom had officially asked Youngjae to be his boyfriend a few days after their date at the beach in Jinhae. Youngjae said yes of course. Over the course of the summer, Jaebeom and Youngjae kept going on dates and working at the store together. It was the best summer for the both of them. It was finally the week before university was starting and Jackson had come back. Mark already knew about Jaebeom and Youngjae, but Jackson didn’t know just yet. They were all going to go play volleyball together, so Youngjae was planning to tell Jackson then. 

Youngjae had finally got his license, so Jaebeom was letting him drive them to the beach. Jaebeom was definitely a bit worried and Youngjae could tell by the way Jaebeom was holding on to the handle above the car door.

“I’m not driving that badly!” Youngjae exclaims.

“I know. You’re doing fine, but there are times where I wish I was driving,” Jaebeom says as Youngjae steps on the brake really hard at the stoplight. 

“Sorry,” Youngjae apologizes. 

“It’s fine. The only way to get better is to practice,” Jaebeom says as he puts his hand on Youngjae’s thigh to reassure him. Youngjae didn’t have any other mishaps on the way to the beach, which Jaebeom was happy about. They arrived at the beach and met up with Mark and Jackson. Youngjae and Jaebeom were holding hands as they walked up to the other 2. Mark saw them first and waved. Jackson had his back to them, so he had to turn around and he waved as well but then soon became shocked when he saw their hands locked together.

“What is going on?” Jackson asked. Youngjae knew this was coming, but Mark stepped in first.

“They’re dating. I found out a while ago. They told me first,” Mark teased Jackson. 

“Wow. Way to be mature. Anyways how long has this been going on?” Jackson asked.

“Just a few months,” Youngjae explained. Jackson didn’t seem to care much that they were together.

“If he makes you happy, then whatever. But Jaebeom, if you break Youngjae’s heart, I will break you,” Jackson warns Jaebeom.

“I won’t break his heart,” Jaebeom says as he smiles at Youngjae. Youngjae smiles back.

“Okay enough lovey dovey shit. Let’s play some volleyball. Practice starts the first week for us. We gotta get back into the swing of things,” Mark replies. Mark and Jackson were on one team and Jaebeom and Youngjae were on the other. They played a few rallies for a few hours until it was time for dinner. They went to eat at the Chinese restaurant again, but this time Jackson paid. 

“This will be my treat. Mark paid last time and it’ll be like my congratulations to the two of you on becoming a couple,” Jackson said as he paid the check. They all thanked Jackson for the dinner. They left the restaurant and this time Jaebeom was driving them back to Youngjae’s place. Jaebeom had been staying over a lot at Youngjae’s place lately and his mom was getting suspicious. Youngjae hadn’t told his mom yet that he was dating Jaebeom, but he had a feeling she already knew. They arrive at Youngjae’s house and Jaebeom was gonna spend the night again.

“Mom, Jaebeom is gonna sleep over alright?” Youngjae asks. His mom just nods and goes to her room. They head up to Youngjae’s room and watch some TV. They both have work this whole week before school starts so they fall asleep while watching the show. 

The week had flown by due to their work schedules. They were both working the whole day every day since school was starting. It was now the Sunday before school starts, so at the end of their shift, Jaebeom and Youngjae said their goodbye to Mr. Kim.

“It was great working here for the summer. Maybe next summer we can come back to work here?” Youngjae asked.

“Of course. I could always use some veteran employees. It’ll be less training,” Mr. Kim responded.

“Thanks a lot for the experience Mr. Kim. It was great working here,” Jaebeom responded. They both left the shop and went to go eat dinner at the K-BBQ place across the street. Jaebeom was grilling again while Youngjae fed him the meat. This time though, Jaebeom paid for the meal. Since school was starting the next day, Jaebeom drove Youngjae home and Jaebeom didn’t stay over again. Before Youngjae exited the car, he kissed Jaebeom. 

“See you tomorrow,” Youngjae said as he exited the car. 

“I’ll be picking you up early since we have class in the morning,” Jaebeom said.

“Yes, you better be on time!” Youngjae replied. 

“I will, don’t you worry. If I get to see your face tomorrow, I will be on time,” Jaebeom said. Youngjae waved goodbye, but Jaebeom was waiting for Youngjae to go inside. Youngjae never got tired of that. He loved it actually. He opened his door and waved as he closed it. Jaebeom then drove off and Youngjae went up to shower and sleep. He wasn’t ready for school to start, but he was ready for volleyball season to begin. 

***

It was officially the first day of university. Jaebeom was a few minutes late to picking up Youngjae. The car pulls up in front of the house and Youngjae walks over to the car. 

“You ready?” Jaebeom asks as Youngjae gets into the car.

“You’re a bit late, but you look good so I’ll allow it. I’m a bit nervous though. I’m sad we don’t have any classes together,” Youngjae pouts.

“Aw it’ll be okay. You’ll do fine and we’ll see each other for lunch. You have some classes with Mark and Jackson. You won’t be alone!” Jaebeom reassures Youngjae as he puts his hand on Youngjae’s thigh to squeeze it. Youngjae feels a bit more relaxed now and tries to calm down. They drive to school and the roads are more packed than usual. Luckily they find a spot and are able to make it to their classes on time. Jaebeom walks Youngjae to his class and they see Mark and Jackson on their way. 

“Hey Jaebeom. Are you in this class with us?” Mark asks.

“Nah. My class is in the building next door, but it starts a bit later than your class,” Jaebeom answered.

“Aw you walking Youngjae to class? How cute!” Jackson responded. That made Youngjae blush. 

“I’ll see you at lunch alright?” Youngjae says. Before Jaebeom leaves, he gives Youngjae a quick kiss on the cheek.  
Youngjae could hear the squeals come from Jackson and Mark, which made him blush even more. 

“Yeah, see you at lunch.” Youngjae says as Jaebeom walks to his class. Jackson and Mark are looking at Youngjae teasingly.

“Stop it you guys. It’s not a big deal,” Youngjae says to the 2. They keep poking Youngjae as they sit in class.

The classes go by so slowly since it’s basically just syllabus week. They don’t do much in their classes. The professors just lecture about school and class policies. Nothing they haven’t heard before. It was now lunch time and they were going to try out the food in the school’s cafeteria. It was actually a buffet style cafeteria. You swipe your ID card and each time you swiped it, it was 20 points deducted from the points you have on the card. They met up with Jaebeom and so they each swipe their cards to enter the cafeteria. They had heard good things about the cafeteria food, but they didn’t think it would be this amazing. As soon as they walked in, they could smell the aroma of the seafood. Mondays were apparently seafood days, and so a lot of the dishes were related to shrimp, crab, and lobster. 

“Oh my god,” Jaebeom said. 

“Oh my god indeed,” Jackson responded. They each browsed the variety of foods that were being offered. You have to make rounds before you decide what to eat at a buffet. Everyone knows that. Anyways, they each grab their food and find a table in the back. They sit down and immediately start digging in to the food. 

“Holy crap,” Youngjae says as he eats the crab legs.

“What the heck? How do they have such good food?” Mark asks. They all continue to stuff their faces. They finish their food quickly and go to grab more. Soon, they’re stuffed with seafood and go sit outside to take in the sun. 

“Damn, I’ll be eating there all the time now. We’re gonna gain the freshman 15 huh?” Jackson asked.

“We better not! We got volleyball practice. That should hopefully help us not gain the freshman 15,” Youngjae replied. It was almost time for their afternoon classes to start. Jaebeom went off to his classes first since it was farther away.

“See you at volleyball practice guys,” Jaebeom says as he leaves. Youngjae, Mark, and Jackson have the same classes again so they walk to the classroom together. Again, the classes are just discussing the syllabus and so it’s just a drag. Jackson almost falls asleep from his food coma. Mark has to nudge him to stay awake.

Classes are finally over and done with, so Jackson, Mark, and Youngjae head over to the gym to get dressed for volleyball practice. Jaebeom is already in the locker room and Youngjae sees him talking to some other guys. 

“Who’s Jaebeom talking to? I didn't think he knew anybody else that was coming to this school,” Youngjae wondered to himself. They walked over to Jaebeom and the other guys turned around.

“Wassup!” Bambam shouted as he greeted the others with the chest bump. It was Jinyoung, Yugyeom, and Bambam. 

“Wait I didn’t know you guys were going to school here too?” Mark asked.

“Yeah we got in for volleyball as well,” Jinyoung responded. 

“Good to see you’ve healed well Bam,” Jackson said. 

“Well, now we’ll all be on the same team. No one will beat us!” Yugyeom said. They all laughed and headed out onto the court for practice. 

Youngjae and Jaebeom held hands as they walked outside to the gym. Youngjae could get used to all of this. School with his amazing boyfriend and some great friends. Nothing could be better. He was glad the volleyball championships had brought them together again. This was just the beginning of the rest of their lives together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading my fic! I really do appreciate all the hits and the kudos and comments. I hope you enjoyed this last chapter! I kind of left this a bit open ended just in case I do want to write a part 2 in the future.


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